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Dennis Lehane

デニス・ルヘイン

Denisu Ruhein

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1965-08-04 （Boston, Massachusetts）
Nationality
American
Languages
English
Religion
Catholic
Residence History
Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts → St. Petersburg, Florida → Southern California

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Screenwriter, Instructor
Active Years
1994-2024
Affiliations
Boston Public Library board of trustees, Eckerd College board of trustees, Pine Manor College Solstice Low-Residency MFA Program board
Nominations
Edgar Award 2004 Mystic River Best Motion Picture Screenplay Nominated, Edgar Award 2010 Animal Rescue Best Short Story Nominated

Education

Boston College High School
Country: United States
Jesuit prep school
Eckerd College
Country: United States
Found passion for writing
Florida International University
Creative writing graduate program
Degree: MFA
Country: United States

Awards

Shamus Award
1995
Work: A Drink Before the War
Category: Best First P.I. Novel
Organization: Private Eye Writers of America
Result: Won
Anthony Award
2002
Work: Mystic River
Category: Best Novel
Result: Won
Barry Award
2002
Work: Mystic River
Category: Best Novel
Result: Won
Edgar Award
2013
Work: Live by Night
Category: Best Novel
Result: Won
Edgar Award
2007
Work: The Wire Season 4
Category: Best Television Feature/Mini-Series Teleplay
Result: Won

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Mystic River

2001 Crime fiction 401 pages

Three childhood friends from Boston reunite after the daughter of one is murdered, unearthing past traumas.

traumarevengeclass society
Adaptations
  • [Film] Mystic River / Clint Eastwood (2003)

Shutter Island

2003 Mystery 397 pages

A U.S. Marshal investigates a patient's disappearance from a remote island asylum for the criminally insane.

mental illnessconspiracyreality vs. illusion
Adaptations
  • [Film] Shutter Island / Martin Scorsese (2010)

Gone, Baby, Gone

1998 Crime fiction 432 pages

Private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro search for a missing child in Boston.

moral dilemmaskidnappingsocial issues
Adaptations
  • [Film] Gone Baby Gone / Ben Affleck (2007)

Live by Night

2012 Historical crime 401 pages

A man's rise in the criminal underworld during Prohibition.

Prohibitioncriminal empirefamily
Adaptations
  • [Film] Live by Night / Ben Affleck (2016)

A Drink Before the War

1994 Mystery 272 pages

Introduction to Kenzie and Gennaro series, investigating a politician's dirty secrets.

private investigatorspolitical corruptionBoston

Bibliography

  • A Drink Before the War
  • Darkness, Take My Hand
  • Sacred
  • Gone, Baby, Gone
  • Prayers for Rain
  • Moonlight Mile
  • The Given Day
  • Live by Night
  • World Gone By
  • Mystic River
  • Shutter Island
  • Coronado: Stories
  • The Drop
  • Since We Fell
  • Small Mercies

Adaptations

  • Mystic River (2003, dir. Clint Eastwood)
  • Gone Baby Gone (2007, dir. Ben Affleck)
  • Shutter Island (2010, dir. Martin Scorsese)
  • The Drop (2014, dir. Michaël R. Roskam)
  • Live by Night (2016, dir. Ben Affleck)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
hard-boiled stylevivid depiction of Boston dialectsocial commentary
Recurring Motifs
working-class strugglesmoral ambiguityviolence and redemption

Legacy

Renowned for crime novels set in working-class Boston, with several adapted into acclaimed films by directors like Eastwood, Scorsese, and Affleck.

Trivia

  • Born and raised in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood; parents emigrated from Ireland.
  • Youngest of five children.
  • Graduate of Jesuit Boston College High School.
  • Contributed as writer to HBO's The Wire.
  • Received honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Eckerd College.